STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The leader of a Staten Island running advocacy group that is looking to play a major role in managing a $70 million indoor track facility in Ocean Breeze has left the organization to form a new group, allegedly after friction with the borough parks commissioner.

Vincent Gattullo, formerly president of Staten Island Track Running and Community (SITRAC), said he was told at a group meeting four months ago that borough Parks Commissioner Adena Long said SITRAC would never have a shot at managing the facility as long as he was involved.

But others said Gattullo also is to blame for any problems.

Gattullo said he has "no idea" why Ms. Long would be irked with him. He said he agreed to resign after being asked to do so by the group.

"I didn't want to be associated with them," Gattullo said.

According to Gattullo, Lorraine Lettieri, who succeeded him as president, was among those who heard Ms. Long make the comment.

But Ms. Lettieri told the Advance she had heard no such thing. Ms. Long declined to comment.

Other group members, speaking on background, confirmed that friction with Ms. Long played a major role in Gattullo's departure.

"The biggest thing was that he was on the outs with Adena," said one. "I don't know what touched it off."

Gattullo and a second SITRAC member, who also didn't want their name used, pointed to a 2012 Advance article in which Gattullo talked about SITRAC's desire to make the "ultimate decisions" about the facility.

The SITRAC member said that Parks saw that article as inflammatory.

"They are super-sensitive," the member said. "Parks got offended at that. They overreact to everything."

Ms. Lettieri, who had also served as SITRAC president in the past, said she had "no input" into Gattullo's leaving, and that Gattullo had been invited to stay on as president emeritus.

She said she was asked to return as president only after Gattullo resigned.

"Any history that happened prior to that, I'm not aware of," she said.

Referring to Gattullo's charges about Ms. Long, city Parks spokeswoman Tara Kiernan said she didn't "know that any of that was said."

"We have been working with SITRAC all along, and will continue to work with them," she said. "We want to build a relationship with them. We want them to be involved."

A non-SITRAC source familiar with the situation said Gattullo was sometimes "his own worst enemy," frequently complaining to borough elected officials about Ms. Long and "throwing bombs" at her in the press.

The source said Gattullo sometimes did not stay on message with the rest of the group, and given the soured relationship between Gattullo and Ms. Long, SITRAC acted in the interest of "self-preservation" by asking Gattullo to step down.

A SITRAC source also said Gattullo was frequently "going off and doing things on his own."

But Gattullo denied the charge, saying, "I never did that. I never went off on my own. These are things that people are saying just to get rid of me."

Gattullo also said Parks had expressed concern about a SITRAC member who'd had a past arrest record. He declined to identify the person.

Gattullo has formed a new group, the Ocean Breeze Track and Athletic Organization, including prominent doctors, attorneys and business leaders.

The group has submitted a response to a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to manage the track, but Gattullo acknowledged that the new group's submission came one day after the deadline.

SITRAC had already submitted a response of its own to the RFEI, the only group to do so within the deadline.

Gattullo has also reached out to City Hall about the new group, and said he mentioned the new group to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott Stringer at a Democratic Party dinner here on Tuesday night.

Gattullo said that while SITRAC has people with track-and-field experience, his new group has that experience plus "influence and money."

"We've got a lot of heavy people," he said, adding, "We are better prepared to do it."

Ms. Lettieri, who has an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business, said she welcomed the competition with Gattullo's new group, and felt that "hands-down," SITRAC was the best qualified to play a role with the track.

She called Gattullo "a great man" who had done a lot for the borough community.